The Dream
by pie and cactus
Summary: Summery: Why does almost all the boys at Hogwarts are dreaming the same dream every night?


**The Dream**

Fandom: Harry Potter

Genre: Humor

Rating: PG-13

Length: 5264 words

Characters: Harry, Ron, Hermione

Time: During the sixth book, the week after Ron and Harry leaving the Hospital Wing. Ron's dating Lavender and back to speaking terms with Hermione, Harry's in love with Ginny.

Summery: Why does (almost) all the boys at Hogwarts are dreaming the same dream every night?

Beta: Susan Death

Disclaimer: All the characters belong to J.K. Rowling

Harry woke up panting. He had the same dream as the one he had had the previous night at the Hospital Wing, a peculiar dream for which he blamed the head injury he suffered from McLaggen. The dream was very much like the ones he was having about Ginny most nights, only it was about another girl, one that looked familiar, though he couldn't quite place her. In the dream, she had short blond hair, and he felt that he has seen her with even shorter hair before –but he was still unable to recognize her. She was nice looking, but nothing compared to Ginny, and he wondered why on earth he would be dreaming of another girl while he was perfectly content with Ginny in his dreams, night and day.

Harry shrugged and, noticing that it was almost time to get up, decided to start his day. Ron was still sleeping, tossing around a little in his bed, mumbling something about staying away from someone. Harry could think of a few options to interpret his dream, some better than others, but decided against giving it another thought.

When Ron finally woke up, he looked a bit flushed, but by the time both boys met Hermione in the common room and went down to breakfast, he was back to normal.

By the time they've finished their DADA lesson - during which Snape cornered Harry with a question about Dementores that Harry answered right, to Snape's great displeasure- Harry had already forgotten about the peculiar dream. He was sitting in the Great Hall, next to Ron, with Hermione sitting opposite to them, his mind occupied with the tasty dish in front of him, and the essay Snape required for the next lesson, about dealing with Dementors.

That night Harry had the dream about the blond girl again, only a bit more _elaborated_ than he preferred to dream about an unfamiliar girl. More uncomfortable was the fact that she was a few years older than him, not to mention how he felt about Ginny – why would he have this girl hunting his dreams every night? Although it was admittedly a lot better than dreaming about strange corridors in the ministry of magic as he used to last year, Harry still didn't feel comfortable when he found out that the dream had a physical effect on him while sleeping. He recalled having the dream a few times during that night, in various locations of Hogworts – changing every time he fell asleep again. One thing for sure – he was glad he remembered to close his bed curtains when he went to sleep. And he definitely had to change his pants before getting dressed…

Opening the curtains in one smooth motion, he found Ron doing the exact same thing, looking red in the face, exactly like Harry himself was feeling at the moment. They mumbled a hasty "Good morning" to one another without actually looking at each other, and while brushing his teeth, Harry caught Ron changing his pants, and quickly turned his face, wondering.

He knew that all boys were having dreams of similar nature, as he was usually having of Ginny, but whether Ron's dreams were about Lavender or about Hermione, he didn't know.

The morning lessons were horrible. Harry couldn't concentrate one bit. Between his lying awake before falling asleep, thinking about Malfoy's wrong doing, and the energy he spent in his dreams with the mysterious girl, he was exhausted. He kept yawning, and noticed Ron looked almost as tired as he was, until finally Hermione asked what was wrong with them.

"I mean, Merlin! Ron, you just got back from resting a week in the Hospital Wing and you look like you haven't had a good night sleep anymore than Harry did," she said, throwing a glance at Lavender.

Ron turned red on the spot and scribed something on his parchment.

Snorting disdainfully, Hermione turned herself to face Harry.

"Well, I have things to think about that are more interesting than this lesson, I guess," replied Harry quickly. The look of realization Ron gave him was quite disturbing, and lasted just long enough for Harry to feel uncomfortable.

When they were headed to lunch, Hermione left them for a visit to the girl's bathroom on the way, and Ron, apparently looking for an opportunity to talk with Harry without her in the vicinity, pulled Harry conspicuously into an empty classroom.

"Harry, there's something funny going on with me," he said once he closed the door and looked up the ceiling, just to make sure Peeves wasn't lurking about. "And I have a feeling that it's not just me," he added, the tips of his ears going bright red.

"What's wrong?" Harry tried to control the hot wave going across his face, thinking he had an idea what was that about. Apparently, his own morning's wakening didn't go unnoticed.

He hadn't particularly wanted to be too familiar with Ron's dreams, but since Ron did seem to want some help handling with them, it was what a best friend would do, Harry told himself. To deal with his own hormones was bad enough, but what choice did he have?

Ron's face now turned redder than his hair. "I've been having these dreams," he started, "about some girl with short blond hair, that I have no idea who she is. And I know I'm not the only one" he added, glancing at Harry's face to see his reaction.

Harry looked at him in amazement mixed with embarrassment. It was one thing for Ron to know what kind of dreams he was having, but how did he know about whom?? And then another terrible thought occurred to him – what if Ron could see the other girl that possessed his dreams, the girl that happened to be Ron's sister?

Gulping loudly he asked "How do you know who's in my dreams?"

Just for a second, Ron forgot how incredibly embracing that moment was for him and asked in amazement "You too?!" and then immediately blushed again.

"What do you mean 'you too'? Who were you talking about when you said you're not the only one?" asked Harry, mentally kicking himself for giving away the fact that he had the same dreams. In fact, who said it was the same girl anyway? There are a lot of blonds in the world!

"I was talking about two of the seventh-years in the common room, I've heard them talking yesterday," replied Ron, his eyes not finding Harry's. "But now that I know you're having them too, it just seems even scarier, don't you think? The thing is, that it's getting on my nerves, and between Lavender and… well let's just say I have enough on my mind with anything that has to do with girls," he concluded.

"If it's more than one boy who's having the same dream," Harry said slowly, thinking that indeed it was scary and strange, "than we may have been jinxed by someone".

"Well," said Ron, trying to sound serious and failing miserably, "I think that most boys here would love to have these kind of dreams and wouldn't think it much of a jinks. You should see what that dream-girl is doing to me -" but Harry stopped him abruptly.

"That's too much information, Ron," he said dryly examining his nails with great interest, while hearing a weak "yeah, I forgot she probably did the same for you," from the red faced Ron.

"Anyway," Ron cleared his throat, then continued louder, "what do you think we should do to get ride of it? Well, assuming that you do want to get rid of it," he added immediately, trying to suppress down a smile.

"I do!" called Harry, tugging his shirt's collar. It was getting very hot, for some reason. "I mean, I do, between Dumbledore's assignment and Malfoy's sneaking around, I have enough to think about and I need the sleep."

Ron was still grinning.

"Well, if it is a jinx," said Harry, smiling slyly, "maybe we should ask Hermione about it."

"Are you mental?!" Ron cried, hid smile fading. "Do you honestly want to go down to Hermione, which by the way is probably wondering where we are right about now, and tell her about the dreams?"

"Well, we don't have to tell her everything, do we?" asked Harry pointedly. "We'll just tell her that some of the boys are having the same dream and we think that it may be a jinx. She'll probably run straight to the library after lunch, find the biggest book about jinx that there is there, and find the counter curse in a matter of minutes! That is, if _you_ really do want to get rid of it," he added, now looking directly at Ron, who immediately said "yeah, I prefer my old dreams". And then, when he realized he said too much, _again_, added "I don't even know that girl!"

"Fine, then let's go ask Hermione. Come on."

They found her already sitting at the Gryffindor table, half way through her meal.  
"Where were you?" she asked as soon as Harry sat next to her. Ron had the bad luck to be spotted by Lavender, who was sitting down the table with Parvati, and had to go sit next to her. He did so, with a miserable face.

"Well…?" asked Hermione, pointedly ignoring Ron's apologetic looks and turning again to Harry.

"Ron and I… well, we need your help with a jinx," he phrased his request carefully.

"Oh, is it the enlargement charm we've learned yesterday?" asked Hermione knowingly, "Professor Flitwick did say that this charm used on body parts is more of a jinx," she teased, and then spotted Lavender plant a huge kiss on Ron nose, she became serious again.

"No, it's not that," Harry glanced nervously around. Was it his imagination or did some of the older boys over at the Hufflepuff table were huddled around with puzzled looks on their faces, talking and looking at a sixth-year girl from their house? Glancing over at her he realized that had a short blond hair. "We'll tell you outside. I don't want to be overheard."

Once they had finished their lunch, Ron managed to give Lavender the slips and the three of them were able to find an empty classroom again.

"Well, what is it?" asked Hermione, looking from Ron to Harry, after neither of them seemed willing to speak.

"OK, here's the thing," Harry started, and, thinking fast, he decided to twist some of the truth, just to be safe. "Some people are having a strange dream, the same one for all of them, and they think that they may have been jinx or something," he finished quickly. Ron was looking relieved.  
"The same dream?" Hermione contemplated, "That's odd. How can you control somebody's dreams?" she apparently asked herself, because Harry was quite sure she didn't expect any answers from him. "I'll have to check in the library, I've never heard of such a jinx..."

It was Harry's turn to be relieved for not giving away too much information to Hermione, but before he managed to send a reassuring smile towards Ron, who was looking only slightly pink, she continued "What it the dream about?"

"Er," Harry didn't know what to say for a long time, and to his horror, Ron finally replied in his stead.

"About a girl," he turned red.

"A girl?" Hermione wondered, a beginning of a smile forming on her lips. "Are the _people_ that having this dream all boys? Do _you_ have them?"

"I think so about the first question," it was Ron's turn to be shocked as Harry decided he might as well tell her the truth, "and yes to the second".

"I see," she tried unsuccessfully to suppress a grin. "May I hear what exactly do you do with the girl on the dream or shall I use my imagination?"

"I would prefer it if you'll do neither," replied Ron, looking at his shoes laces. Harry, who was standing close to him, could actually sense heat coming from his body.

"Does Lavender know about the dream?" she teased Ron, but stooped when he snapped his head up and she caught the scared look on his face. "Alright, of course I'll help. I just need to know, is it a girl from school?"

"No," replied Harry, somewhat relieved that she understood the gravity of the situation, even though she looked quite amused. "She's older. We don't know her, but she looks familiar." To this Ron nodded hid agreement.

"I'm going to the library to see what I can find out- I still have half an hour before Arithmancy. Meanwhile," she added, not able anymore to suppress her smile, "try and find out who else is having this dream, and who the girl is."

Neither Harry nor Ron planed to go around asking the other boys they knew about their hormone filled dreams, but they nodded. After all, they needed her help.

But the task Hermione gave them was easier than they thought, or at least the first part was. Now that they were more interested in the boys' conversation, they managed to hear two seventh-year Slytherins talking about a certain dream in a way that made them both want to run away to the bathroom, and four sixth-year Ravenclaws trying to figure out who this girl they were all dreaming of was. In fact, at dinner time, Harry noticed for the first time that all of the third-year boys and above from all of the houses, and quite a few of the second-year boys, acted very peculiar – whispering and pointing at short haired blond girls. Most of the boys looked very pleased with themselves somehow.

"I have good news and bad news," panted Hermione, slipping into the bench in front of them.

"Well, start with the bad news," Ron diverted his eyes from a girl that looked suspiciously like the one from the dream, though she was not as skinny.

"OK. The bad news is that I haven't found anything in the library that could explain what you're experiencing," Hermione started to load her plate with food, while Harry and Ron groaned.

"And what's the good news?" Harry asked hopeful.

"The good new is that I think that each and every one of the boys at Hogworts is suffering, if you could call it _suffering_," she chuckled, "from the same problem."

"How is it good news?!" exclaimed Ron angrily, while waving his fork. "And to some of us it _is_ suffering, you know. I rather have my old dreams back."

"Dreams about Lavender, I presume," stated Hermione dryly, taking a big bite of crunchy chipped and missing out Ron's faint "no…" that was directed to no one in particular.

"Anyway," she continued cheerfully, "this _is_ good news, because this means that you can go to Madam Pomfrey. It's probably not a jinx at all, and she could sort it out for both of you, and anyone else that is bothered, with a jiffy."

"I'm not going to tell _her_ anything about it!" Ron hissed, and Harry nodded. Really, does Hermione think that they were going to stroll to the Hospital Wing and talk to Madam Pomfrey about their _dreams_?! And what if she'll start asking all those questions, just like Hermione? He'd die of embracement… Ron apparently felt exactly the same, by the angry look he sent to Hermione.

"Alright then, if you prefer to talk to a man," Hermione said, still looking amused, "why don't you talk to one of the teachers? I'm sure they'll understand. I mean, they were once our age, you know."

"Yes, I can imagine that. 'Professor Snape, have you ever had an erotic dream about a girl you didn't know? What did you do about it?'" Ron Ron sounded just like Malfoy sucking up to Snape and that got Harry and Hermione laughing.

Harry reached to his pumpkin juice but was almost choked when a new thought occurred to him. "What if the male teachers _are_ having the same dream?" he whispered to Ron and Hermione, and automatically the three of them turned to look at the teacher's table. Harry had to admit to himself that he wasn't entirely surprised to see what was going on there: Hagrid was trying to avoid looking at any girl who happened to pass by. Snape had a very peculiar, and entirely new, expression on his face. Professor Flitwick wasn't even around, which was a first. Slughorn was patting his forehead with a handkerchief and laughing embarrassedly every time a female student walked by. In fact, all the male teachers up at the table were behaving very strange indeed. Well, every one of them except Dumbledore, who wore his usual amused expression.

"I think they are," Hermione said, sobering up and looking a bit worried. "What are we going to do?" she whispered.

"Hermione, you're the genius, not us!" Ron sounded truly distressed now.

"Then I'm heading back to the library," she announced, collecting her bag. "Maybe I was looking at the wrong books. I'll try to read if there's anything about erotic dreams in the health books," she got up to leave, exactly as Lavender arrived at the table.

"Are you planning to make anyone have an erotic dream about you?" asked Lavender sweetly. "I think you'll indeed need the help of the books for that, since the boy you're thinking about is thinking about another girl," she added, sitting down at Ron's other side. Ron looked like he wanted to burry himself somewhere, but Harry was sure he heard him muter "she doesn't need books for that," to himself before Lavender, who was laughing at her own joke, kissed him full on the lips.

Hermione swung her schoolbag on her back, looking disdainful, and stormed away. Harry, thinking he would much rather go with her than stay with Lavender and poor Ron, picked himself up and ran after her.

He managed to catch her just outside the Great Hall, on her way to the library.

"I think I'm the only girl in Hogworts who knows about all the boys' problem," she said once Harry reached her.

"I think you are, Hermione. And you have to find a way to help us," he added miserably.

"So I suppose no one knows who the girl is yet?" she asked and, without waiting for his answer, continued, "I thought of something while I was in the library earlier. What if it's not just the Hogwarts' boys that are having this dream?"

Harry stopped walking immediately. "You think that blokes outside of the school are also having the same dream?" he demanded, and she nodded. "How will we find out without embracing ourselves?"

"I think you should send Fred and George a letter about it, Harry. Ask them if they're having the same dream. It's just that it's such a mystery," she sighed. "Of course," she added as an afterthought, "the problem could be solved a lot faster if you'll just go to Dumbledore." Then, looking at his face, she said "Or maybe not."

"Yeah, I'll go and write to them right now," Harry decided. He knew that the twins would laugh about it if they weren't having these dreams, but they'll also be discreet and tell no one. "I'll just ask Ron if he doesn't mind about that," he turned to go back to the Great Hall while Hermione left to the library.

Two hours later, Hermione found Harry pouring over his DADA essay about Dementors, and Ron trying to keep his eyes open while reading a chapter in his charms book.

"No luck," she replied to their un-asked question. "Did you send Fred and George an owl?"

"Yes, and I'm regretting it already," said Ron bitterly. "They'll take the mickey out of both of us for ever and ever."

They sat there studying, until Ron gave an enormous yawn. "Well, I'm going to sleep. I don't like these dreams but I can't keep my eyes open any longer." Harry decided to join him, since he was done with his essay and it was getting rather late. Hermione, who was reading a book lying on the couch, apparently felt the same, because by the time the boys started to clime up the stairs to their dormitories, she was also gathering her belongings.

The morning found Ron and Harry even more tiered than the day before. But far worse, now that Harry knew that his problem was shared with all the other boys, he was embraced when his eyes caught Dean pulling his bed sheet off the bed and throwing them angrily into the laundry basket in the corner of the room, while glancing over to Neville, who was sitting sweating in his bed, with a stunned expression on his face. Ron was again red in the face and fanned himself with his hands. Out of all the occupants of the room, Seamus was the only one with a big smile plastered across his face, and he positively beamed. Harry was the first one to jump into the shower, relieved that the night was over. Now that he thought about it, it occurred to him that since these strange dreams started, he hasn't had a single one about Ginny. Not at night, that is.

The next few days went by without any new ideas, although Hermione spent a lot of time in the library trying to help, and without any answer from Fred and George.

"They're probably thinking of how to humiliate us even more," said Ron miserably Sunday night, while working on his Dementor's assay, which was dew for the next day. Harry was reading his potions book, trying to find a way to get a hold of Slughorn's memory for Dumbledore, and Hermione was reading a book called "The origin of dreams", still trying to solve the matter.

"Have you noticed that it's not all of the boys that are having that dream?" she whispered, not wanting to embarrass Seamus, who was sitting not far from them. "I think that the young boys aren't, and I'm convinced that Dumbledore isn't."

"Well, Dumbledore probably knows how to avoid them," sighed Ron, and then, his face contracting in disgust added "Hermione! I wish you hadn't put that specific thought about Dumbledore inside my head."

"That was precisely my idea!" she said in a louder voice. "If you'll just talk to him –"

"No!" shouted Ron and Harry in unison, causing some of the sixth-years in the room to look at them.

"And what about the first- and second-years?" asked Hermione. "What do they know that you don't? I'm positive that they aren't having these dreams."

"I don't know how to tell you this," said Ron dryly, looking up from his essay, "but I think that it's more of what they _don't_ know that is keeping them from having these kinds of dreams." Harry laughed.

"Oh, right…" said Hermione in a small voice and turned pink.

That night Harry didn't sleep well at all. He lay awake for a long time, and when he finally did sleep, he dreamed about Malfoy, Slughorn, and Snape, and unfortunately, the girl also, somehow managing to appear in every one of his dreams…

During their Monday DADA lesson, Snape seemed to be in an even worse mood than usual, and both Harry and Ron had caused him to take points off from Gryffindor- Harry, for being _almost_ late to his class, and Ron, for being cheeky to Snape. Harry suspected that these dreams had a bad influence on Snape, and wished that they would somehow solve the problem soon. But if even the teachers didn't know how to do that, how would they know?

Ron was just falling to a nearby couch in the common room after lunch, when Harry suddenly realized that Hedwig was tapping on the window.

"Hey, that might be an answer from Fred and George," Harry hurried to the window to let the snowy owl in. And indeed, the letter attached to her leg was from the twins.

"Ron," Harry's brow frowned as he was reading the letter, "do you think you and Hermione will be able to meet with them at Hogsmeade when you're there for the Apparition lesson? They think they might have an anti-jinx incantation to our problem."

"They do?!" jumped Ron from his seat, "why didn't they write it in the letter?"

"Don't know," Harry folded the letter, "but I have a feeling that they are to blame with our situation."

And sure enough, when Ron and Hermione met Harry in the Great Hall for lunch that weekend after their Apparition lesson, in which Ron finally managed his first successful Apparition, Harry found out about the twin's new idea.

"They were testing this new spell for selling in their joke shop," Hermione started loading her plate.

"Apparently they were developing a kind of new love- potion, only it wasn't about love and it wasn't a potion," said Ron gloomily. "They used a finger nail from Varity, their assistant in their joke shop, and brewed a potion that a girl is supposed to swallow before she casts an incantation on a boy she's interested in. It supposed to make him dream of her and only her. And they needed to test that thing on someone other than themselves."

"Varity didn't want anything to do with it," Hermione continued, "she didn't think having a bunch of hormonal boys dream about her every night was a good idea, especially after she saw the effect on Fred and George when they first tested it on themselves. They said that they couldn't look in her eyes for a least a week after they finally managed to develop the anti-spell."

"That still doesn't explain why _all_ the boys here are having that dream," Harry looked astonished, yet impatient.

"Well," Hermione fought a smile, "Varity didn't want to cast the spell for the large scale test, but Fred and George didn't tell her they still have her original potion. So they've used it themselves. I guess since the potion and spell were meant to be used by girls and not boys, it didn't work quite so accurate and every male in half a mile radius was effected." With that, Hermione finally broke down completely and started laughing. "Fred said they sent Varity to check whether Zonko was selling something they invented without their permeation. Can you imagine what if it wasn't just the Hogwarts males that were having these dreams, but also the males at Hogsmead?" she said, wiping the tears streaming down her face. "She would have killed the twins had she found out."

"Those two gits tried to jinx both of us when they came to visit us after that Quidditch game, when we both were in the Hospital Wing!" Ron threw up his hands and shuffled his hair in frustration.

"They though that the test had failed completely," chuckled Hermione, "because they both ended up with the dream themselves, again. It could have been worse," she was laughing again, "just think what would have happened if they've used their own finger nails and all of the boys were dreaming about the twins at night…" she was laughing so hard now, she almost fell out of her seat.

Somehow, neither Ron nor Harry found that very amusing. That thought was more disturbing than anything else.

"So, did they tell you the counter spell?" asked Harry once Hermione calmed down.

"Yes," she replied. "They didn't know that you two, or anyone else for that matter, were effected at all."

"And why didn't they write it in the letter?" Harry asked her.

"Because there's a special wand wave to go along with it," Ron said, going red in his ears, "and they had trouble transferring _that_ in a letter."

"And what's worst, only a girl can do it," added Hermione, an amused smile on her face.

"So, do me!" begged Harry.

"I'll think about it," she laughed at Harry. But after seeing the miserable expression on his face, she made a complicated, and rather embracing, wand wave and said "_Desino Somnium Voluptas_" quite louder than Harry thought entirely necessary.

"Is that it?" he asked her. "I don't feel any difference."

"No, I didn't either. George said that we won't," Ron said. "We'll have to wait for the morning to see if it really does work, but they said it does, so we'll have to trust them for now," he shrugged.

Hermione was very busy for the next week. The anti-spell did work, as the two boys found out the next morning. Harry had his regular dreams about Ginny, which he welcomed back, and Ron too looked relieved.

Hermione had to put the spell on each and every one of the boys at school. She started with the teachers, thinking it was the right thing to do. Most of them didn't suspect a thing when she had asked to meet them after class, in the excuse of talking about a homework assignment or one of the latest quizzes. She put the counter-spell on Hagrid the first chance they could visit him.

Snape turned out to be a much bigger problem, when he refused to discus Hermione's grade on the dementors's assignment, telling her it was obvious that she had copied some of her work from Harry, making her so outraged that she refused to put the spell on him afterwards. Only after Harry stopped grinning like an idiot, and cleverly mentioned that Snape's sour behavior is probably due to his erotic dreams, she assented to try again. Her second attempt to meet with Snape alone didn't go so well either and she ended up with a detention, since Snape considered it rude to question his first decision about her paper. But luckily the detention was used by her to put the spell on him, non-verbally of course, while cleaning the DADA class.

The Gryffindor boys were easy to deal with – one night of sitting at the top of the stairs to their dormitories, with Harry and some parchment as an alibi, was enough to discreetly put the spell on each and every one of them, though Hermione had a cramp in her wand hand afterwards. The next time she saw Seamus, she thought he didn't look as happy as he used to.

She refused politely to a date with a Hufflepuff sixth-year, who took her wand waving behind his back as a good sign.

She witnessed a crying Ravenclaw seventh-year girl telling her friend how a boy from their house had just cancelled the date he set with her the day before, and wondered uncomfortably whether the fact that she used the counter spell on him had anything to do with that.

Hermione left the Slytherins boys to the end, since the spell required her to get too close to them for her liking. Malfoy caught her in the act and complained to Snape - who was already annoyed with her - that she had tried to curse him. That, unfortunately, cost her precious house points from Gryffindor and made her even less willing to continue assisting the rest of the Slytherins. Finally she manage to find a way to use the spell on them without being humiliated, and that only involved a _'Petrificus Totalus'_ jinx on them, in a dark corner, when their backs were turn to her.

All's well, that ends well.


End file.
